Education DIVEWith unnerving frequency, school districts and communities are discovering elevated lead levels after undertaking tests of drinking water sources in their facilities. Recently, comprehensive re-testing in New York City public school buildings found that 83 percent of buildings had at least one water source with lead levels about 15 parts per billion, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard level for when action must be taken.READ MORE

ADDitude MagazineThe National Center for Learning Disabilities recently released its annual report, which finds that children with LD struggle in school significantly more than their peers do. The report, entitled "The State of Learning Disabilities: Understanding the 1 in 5," combines the most recent statistics on learning disabilities with personal anecdotes and policy suggestions to holistically measure how children with learning disabilities fare across the United States. Despite discouraging academic statistics, the NCLD is optimistic — the report, it says, aims to shine a light on the high number of children with LD and introduce concrete changes to help them succeed in school and in life.READ MORE

By: Lorna Kaufman (commentary) When children struggle with reading, it's important that we evaluate them to determine why they are having trouble, what part of the reading process is problematic for them, where they are on the continuum of reading disabilities and what can be done to help them achieve reading success. Eight areas are particularly important in the evaluation of a reading disability and deserve special attention. These areas either relate directly to the development of reading proficiency or measure reading skills.READ MORE

The Washington PostFunding for college work-study programs would be cut in half, public-service loan forgiveness would end and hundreds of millions of dollars that public schools could use for mental health, advanced coursework and other services would vanish under a Trump administration plan to cut $10.6 billion from federal education initiatives, according to budget documents obtained by The Washington Post. The administration would channel part of the savings into its top priority: school choice. It seeks to spend about $400 million to expand charter schools and vouchers for private and religious schools, and another $1 billion to push public schools to adopt choice-friendly policies.READ MORE

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In an effort to enhance the overall content of THE LD SOURCE, we'd like to include peer-written articles in future editions. As a member of LDA and/or reader of THE LD SOURCE, your knowledge of learning disabilities and related issues lends itself to unprecedented expertise. And we're hoping you'll share this expertise with your peers through well-written commentary. Because of the digital format, there's no word or graphical limit. Our group of talented editors can help with final edits. If you're interested in participating, please contact Ronnie Richard to discuss logistics.

THE JournalOne in five children have learning and attention issues, or brain-based challenges in reading, writing, math, organization, focus, listening comprehension, social skills, motor skills or a combination of these, according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities. In a new report, the NCLD examines why students facing these issues are three times more likely to drop out of school.READ MORE

The Associated Press via U.S. News & World ReportFive-year-old Nico Rosenblatt cannot speak and struggles to learn because of a rare genetic condition, yet thrives when surrounded by other children in a regular classroom, according to his parents. However, they say neither the public school system nor a charter school in the nation’s capital could provide an inclusive environment for him. "It's a fundamental question of civil rights and access to education for us," said Karen Hoerst, Nico's 35-year-old mother. "It's really about: Does our kid who happens to have a developmental disability deserve to be educated alongside his peers or not?"READ MORE

NPRThe day Ayden came home from school with bruises, his mother started looking for a new school. Ayden's a bright 9-year-old with a blond crew cut, glasses and an eager smile showing new teeth coming in. He also has autism, ADHD and a seizure disorder. (We're not using his last name to protect his privacy.) He loves karate, chapter books and very soft blankets: "I love the fuzziness, I just cocoon myself into my own burrito." "He's so smart but lacks so much socially," says his mother, Lynn.READ MORE

Houston Chronicle It took thoughts of suicide, nine days in a psychiatric hospital and his mother's pleas at a public hearing last fall for the Houston Independent School District to consider admitting Demarcus Fuller into special education. After he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the district screened him and agreed he qualified for the coveted services that would give him personalized help, including access to a counselor and a special seat on the bus. Persuading his school to actually provide those services was another story, his mother said. READ MORE

ReutersA growing number of U.S. children may develop vision problems before they reach kindergarten, according to a study that suggests eye screenings will become increasingly important for the preschool set. For the study, researchers analyzed data from U.S. census records and from eye exams on about 12,000 kids under 6 years old. Nationwide, researchers estimated that more than 174,000 kids from 3 to 5 years old had vision impairment as of 2015 and projected that their ranks will swell by 26 percent to more than 220,000 by 2060. READ MORE

Education WeekThe U.S. Department of Education is in the thick of reviewing the very first round of state plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act. But the Trump White House has been slow to fill positions throughout federal agencies, including at the Education Department. For now, a number of important roles have been temporarily taken by deputy assistant secretaries who are acting as assistant secretaries. And two other key roles—the deputy secretary (who typically oversees operations), and the assistant secretary of planning, evaluation and policy (typically the Chief Wonk) haven't been filled by political appointees, even temporarily. READ MORE

Education WeekOne out of every 100 special education students was restrained by school personnel or secluded in school from his or her peers in the 2013-2014 school year, presumably to quell behavior that teachers considered disruptive or dangerous. That means nearly 70,000 special education students were restrained or secluded in that school year, the most recent for which data are available. For most students, this happened more than once: States reported more than 200,000 such incidents, so on average, a special education student was restrained or secluded about three times.READ MORE

MindShiftFor teachers, the carefully controlled conditions of education research can seem ridiculous when the reality of the classroom involves regular interruptions, absences and general chaos. Professor John Dunlosky is trying to bridge these two worlds, intentionally studying the effectiveness of strategies that lab studies indicate are promising, but that don't require special technology or extra resources. He is trying to figure out what few strategies could actually make a big difference for learners, and which ones are a waste of time.READ MORE

The Brookings InstitutionTaking that big yellow bus to school has been part of American education since the early 20th century. And at its core, taking the school bus does something very fundamental — it physically brings students to school each and every morning. In fact, the school bus whisks about 25 million public school students per year to school. Yet, prior to my new study in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, we had little evidence on whether taking the school bus to school (i.e., getting to school) was linked to whether students show up more often to school (i.e., going to school).READ MORE

The Washington PostThe historic Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education turns 63 years old on Wednesday, May 17, 2017. The decision famously ordered the desegregation of public schools in the United States, declaring segregated schools "inherently unequal" and unconstitutional, but all these years later, segregation is far from being eliminated. In fact, 2016 federal data showed that poor, black and Hispanic children are becoming increasingly isolated from white, affluent children in America's public schools. Given that, how should Brown v. Board be evaluated? Given persistent school segregation, was it a failure? This post addresses that question.READ MORE